ADHD
Case Notes returns to Radio 4 with an investigation of ADHD.
ADHD Epidemic
Britain is in the grip of an epidemic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD – at least that what the latest statistics suggest. At least one in 20 schoolchildren - 360,000 in England and Wales alone - are thought to have some degree of ADHD. Prescriptions for the standard treatment, a drug called Ritalin, have doubled in the last four years – a trend that could see as many as one in seven British children taking the drug within the next four years. In the United States, that figure is thought to be nearly one in five.
Symptoms in Childhood
The first behavioural symptoms of ADHD are often found in early childhood, between the ages of 5 and 9, when most children are diagnosed. The condition continues throughout the school years and it is thought that 60% of children will carry some symptoms through to adulthood. It’s also thought that the condition can either be attributed to an hereditary or genetic cause or to damage to the foetus' brain during pregnancy or to the child's brain at or after birth.
Behaviour
ADHD is characterised by many behaviours such as inattention, impulsiveness, tantrums, over-activity and restlessness, social clumsiness and poor co-ordination, mood swings and in some cases, specific learning difficulties. But equally these are the sorts of behaviours often exhibited by most children at some stage, to stronger or lesser degrees. So what do doctors base their diagnosis on and is over-diagnosis a problem?
Ritalin
Ritalin, the brand name of the most widely prescribed medication for ADHD, is a brain stimulant. Whilst this may see odd – that an already hyper child can be calmed down with a drug that increases activity in the nervous system - in kids with ADHD, the drug works by increasing alertness which helps the child to focus, reducing fidgeting and hyperactivity. However, some parents report that the medication completely shuts down their child, turning them into an “emotional zombie”. So how does Ritalin and drugs like it, work and are there any alternatives?
Questions to be Addressed
Dr Mark Porter will be finding out why ADHD has become so common both here and in the US. Have doctors been missing it for years or is it just a diagnosis of convenience – a label to explain away complex underlying social problems, including poor schooling and parenting? Could our junk-based 21st century diet be to blame? Is Ritalin a wonder drug – or simply a chemical cosh? And how can we prevent the growing black market in the drug known on the street as “kiddies’ coke”?
Join Dr Mark Porter and Dr Geoff Kewley this Tuesday at 9pm. And later this week, you can have your say in “Check Up”, the medical phone-in programme with Barbara Myers. She will be answering your questions and concerns on ADHD with an expert on Thursday at three o’clock.
Next week’s topic is HRT. |
30 min
